. 

Sunday Mirror - 5th March 2000
The caption says: The dash down the beach, the flinging off of the clothes, the rush into the sea...and out again. It's all very familiar, but this time it's Richard Branson doing a Reggie Perrin. He threw caution - and his boxer shorts - to the wind at Hayling Island, Hants., for a TV advert for his VirginOne account, which gets its first airing today.  He was so cold he left his underwear behind when he finished - and gave Sue and Paul Clarke of Reading a free Virgin flight for retrieving them.
(c) Mirror Group Newspapers.
 
 
 

'Reggie Perrin' fugitive is caught in Florida

Daily Telegraph - 21st April 2000 A WANTED British businessman who faked his own suicide 10 years ago was caught by police after being recognised by a holidaymaker in Florida.  Carl Hilderbrandt, 42, disappeared in the manner of the 1970s television character Reggie Perrin by giving the impression he had drowned. He assumed a false identity by obtaining a passport in the name of a dead child - a method first described in Frederick Forsyth's novel The Day of the Jackal.  Hilderbrandt had jumped bail while charged in connection with the disappearance of £110,000 in cheques from his girlfriend's employers. Relatives had to forfeit £25,000 in sureties when he failed to appear in court. Sheffield Crown Court was told that his life on the run began after his family bakery business hit financial difficulties in 1989.  Colin Burn, prosecuting, said that Hilderbrandt hired an Austin Metro in March 1990, telling the rental firm owner that he had argued with his girlfriend. The car was recovered a few days later from the Humber. It was full of mud and did not contain Mr Hilderbrandt, but for a long time afterwards his family believed him dead.  Unbeknown to him, the charges relating to him and his former girlfriend, Michele Chivers, over the cheques being converted to krugerrands were discontinued. It emerged that before the car was found in the river, Hilderbrandt had applied for a passport in the name of Charles Norman Staines, a child from the Hull area who had drowned.  Hilderbrandt, from Rotherham, South Yorks, went on to set up a new life in the United States, using an alias, but drifted into crime and again skipped bail. He was eventually brought to the

attention of the British authorities after striking up a friendship with a tourist from Sheffield while in Bocca Raton, Florida. At the time he was using the name Charlie Staines, but when the holidaymaker returned home he recognised Hilderbrandt's photograph in a local newspaper article about his disappearance.  Police were informed and enlisted the help of a private investigator and Fort Lauderdale police to trace him. He was brought back to Britain eight months ago and this week admitted four charges of obtaining passports by deception, failing to surrender to custody and three counts of theft. He was jailed for 15 months.  In America, Hilderbrandt set up home with Sheri Leitch, 31, with whom he ran a watercraft rental business and had two children. Police inquiries showed he also had a second fake passport, in the name of Dean Perry, another dead child from Humberside, which he had renewed at the British embassy in Washington in March 1995. Police believe he took the children's details from their gravestones and applied for duplicate copies of their birth certificates. Hilderbrandt was arrested by American police for burglary and a stalking incident in 1997, but skipped bail. Later, he spent 15 months in an American jail for hire car fraud before being deported back to Britain.  David Smith, defending, said Hilderbrandt was unaware of the effect his actions had had on the families of the children whose identities he assumed. He said: "He fled the country in relation to allegations which were subsequently discontinued and was on the run for matters which did not come to court." Hilderbrandt's Polish-born father Jan, a former steelworker, died four years ago, not knowing whether his son was dead or alive. His mother Joan, 69, of Whiston, Rotherham, who attended the court hearing, said: "We'll all be happy when it comes to an end. It's gone on too long."

 
 

Lawyer who ran away to start a new life is jailed for a year

Daily Telegraph - 14th February 2001 A SOLICITOR who abandoned his job and his wife to begin a new life picking flowers in Cornwall, was jailed for a year yesterday for using his clients' money to fund his disappearance.  Alastair Liddle left his home in Elgin, Moray, in December 1997 to travel to a meeting in Edinburgh to be questioned about the state of his accounts and his wife expected to see him later that day. He telephoned her to say he had arrived safely but then threw his mobile phone into a railway station bin, withdrew nearly £6,000 from his firm's account and, in the manner of the television character Reginald Perrin, vanished without trace.  Liddle, 43, fled to Cornwall where he changed his name to Rob Fox and eventually joined itinerant workers travelling around farms picking flowers. He only resurfaced a year later when Cornish police spoke to him and other farm workers about a murder.  When he gave his real name, a police computer showed that he was wanted for an unpaid traffic fine in the north of Scotland. He was almost unrecognisable as the stressed and grossly overweight solicitor who had walked out on his previous life, leaving friends and family wondering if he was dead or alive.  He had lost eight stones, looked years younger, was living in a caravan near Penzance, and wearing jeans and T-shirts. Liddle had to return to Scotland for court appearances, but made no attempt to contact his wife Annemarie, 40, when he was dealt with over the traffic offence, or when he admitted embezzling nearly £18,000.  William MacVicar, defending, said his client had been suffering from severe stress when he took the money from the client

account at Liddle & Co. His financial, health and personal difficulties, which included an unhappy relationship with his mother-in-law, had built to a point at which suicide seemed an attractive option. When he lost money by failing to carry out a client's instructions over a civil case, he paid him by stealing from the firm's account.  Mr MacVicar said: "At the end of it all he had two choices - suicide or inventing a new life." He hatched his escape plan after the Law Society of Scotland called him to Edinburgh to answer complaints about his accounts.  Elgin sheriff court heard that he had repaid some of the money, but still owes around £12,000, which he plans to pay back with the help of his girlfriend. Sheriff Kenneth Forbes told him he accepted that he was a "different person" with a new life "that has some success to it". But he added that he breached the trust of his clients and a prison sentence was the only possible option.  Outside the court, Paula Pirie, 40, a mortgage adviser in St Ives, with whom Liddle has a one-month-old baby daughter Iona, criticised the sheriff for ignoring a recommendation in a background report that he should not be jailed.  She added: "The Scottish system is feudal. They didn't take any of the mitigating circumstances into account. He was depressed at the time. He is a wonderful person, really caring. He has got a new life and has offered to pay all the money back but that doesn't seem to have had any effect at all. My little girl Jeanine lost her real dad four years ago in a fishing tragedy. She thinks the world of Alastair."  Liddle plans to return to Cornwall when he is released.

 
 

Husband of 'lost' family arrested

Daily Telegraph - 24th October 2001 DETECTIVES investigating the disappearance of a mother and her two children 26 years ago have arrested the woman's husband on suspicion of murder.  Patricia Allen, 39, and her children, Jonathan, seven, and Victoria, five, vanished from their home in the seaside town of Salcombe, Devon, in 1975. No trace of them has been found and their disappearance became one of Britain's biggest and most baffling missing persons inquiries.  Devon and Cornwall police arrested Mrs Allen's husband, Anthony, in the Bournemouth area on Monday. He was released on bail to re-appear in January. A file on the case has been submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service.  Mrs Allen and her children were last seen by neighbours on May 26, 1975. Her husband, then aged 41, moved in with another woman months later. He did not report his family missing. A police investigation later began after rumours of their disappearance came to the attention of a local constable.  Mr Allen told police that his wife had walked out on him, returning two evenings later to collect their children. He said he had not reported her missing because she had said she was going to America to meet a former boyfriend.  Mrs Allen made no further contact with friends or relatives and she did not use her bank. She left behind a wardrobe of clothes and hundreds of pounds owed to her from the sale of a beauty parlour remained uncollected.  This year, Devon and Cornwall police re-opened the investigation. At the time the decision was taken a police spokesman said: "We have a policy in force to look at unsolved cases of missing persons after so many years, and to review them using modern techniques and principles to see if we can come up with any new lines of inquiry."

Mr Allen has always denied involvement in his wife's disappearance. He complained at the time of the initial police inquiry that he had undergone vigorous questioning from detectives.  He said: "I am at the end of my tether. The police have given me a hard time. I know they have a job to do, but my aim is the same as theirs - to find evidence that my wife and kids are alive and well."  Mr Allen was born Anthony John Angell in Torbay, Devon, on June 11, 1934, but spent most of his early years in Bournemouth. There he met and married his first wife, Monica.  The couple settled in Surrey, where Mr Allen got a job as a wages clerk. After being declared bankrupt, he disappeared and tried to fake his death. A pile of his clothes and a suicide note were found at Beachy Head. He moved to Halifax, West Yorks, where he adopted a new identity and met and married Patricia. While their marriage was not legal because he was already married, it was regularised after he was divorced from his first wife. Shortly after Mrs Allen disappeared, MrAllen moved in with a widowed restaurant manageress and mother of three children, Eunice Chapman. She ran the Galley restaurant in Salcombe.  The pair had a 17-year relationship and she wrote a book called Presumed Dead about the mystery. She lost contact with him in 1989. She once said: "I thought he was gorgeous and I couldn't understand all the gossip. I think he eventually got bored with our relationship. I could see it had run its course."  The man who led the police inquiry and questioned Mr Allen and Mrs Chapman, the former Det Chief Supt John Bissett, said nine years ago: "It was the disappointment of my service that I was never able to clear up the matter."  Mr Allen could not be contacted yesterday.

 
 

'Faked death' gynaecologist was certified dead by doctor

Ananova - 31st December 2001 Disgraced gynaecologist Dr Rodney Ledward was certified dead by a doctor at an Irish hospital in October 2000.  The Southern Health Board in Cork told Ananova the doctor was certified dead at Cork University Hospital on October 19.  It was claimed Mr Ledward had faked his own death to escape accusations of sexual assaults.  He was buried in St Gobnait's Cemetery outside the town of

Mallow in North County Cork. Dr Ledward had been treated at the hospital for pancreatic cancer.  He'd been struck off for a series of medical blunders.  He was also being investigated by police over dozens of accusations of sexual assaults on women at Kent hospitals.  Dr Ledward was due to have been interviewed by Kent police four days after he died. Since his death, there have been alleged sightings of him in Ireland and Spain.  A Garda spokesman told Ananova they have not been contacted by Kent police.

 
 

The Cold Feet generation has an early mid-life crisis

Daily Telegraph - 13th July 2002 A third of 30-somethings are experiencing the equivalent of a "mid-life" crisis, research claims today.  The so-called Cold Feet generation, named after the ITV comedy drama about three couples struggling with marriage, separation and children, feels it is not making the most of what life has to offer and is panicking. Their anxiety is fuelled by boredom and a sense of being trapped in nine-to-five jobs.  Research among 1,000 people showed that 38 per cent of 18-30s feared they would suffer a crisis by the time they reached their mid-thirties while 33 per cent of those aged 31 to 40 were now at "panic point".

While financial commitments topped the list of barriers to cutting loose, more than one in 10 people said they were too scared to take the plunge anyway.  Nevertheless, one in four said a television programme about opting out of the rat race had prompted them to change their own lives in some substantial way.  James Duffell, of the Virgin One account, which commissioned the poll, said: "To think your 30s would be the pressure point for a mid-life crisis is incredible given that men and women are now more likely to live into their 80s."

 
 

Man shows up at his own funeral

Ananova - 15 October 2002 Mourners screamed in horror after a man they thought was being buried turned up at the funeral.  Edison Vicuna was drunk when he appeared at the funeral in Cuenca, Ecuador.  His family and friends were mourning a body they thought was Vicuna after he went missing for three days.

Jorge Matute, who had performed the post-mortem on the body, told Terra Noticias Populares newspaper: "The body had his face disfigured after a car crash and was mistaken for Vicuna."  Mourners at the funeral screamed in panic when they saw a drunk Vicuna walking around. Some of them even fainted.  The dead man was returned to the morgue where he was properly identified.

 
 

Serbian who faked his own funeral now selling his grave

Ananova - 8th November 2002 A Serbian pensioner who faked his own funeral while he was still alive to see who'd turn up is now selling his grave.  Vuk Peric from the village of Gornji Stupanj near Arandjelovac, organised his funeral five years ago to see who would pay their respects.  He sent out the funeral invitations himself, put a fake death notice in the paper and then watched the service from a distance.  Eventually, he revealed himself, thanked everyone for attending and then invited them to come to his wake.

"I wanted to see people smiling at my funeral and was curious who would come for the last seeing off," he told Serbian daily newspaper 'Vernje Novosti'.  Peric, who has been described as gambler, is in his late 60s but refuses to reveal his real age. The grave and its tombstone are the only property he has left.  "I was running an exciting life even the last few years after my death and the beginning of my new life," he said.  However, while the price of the used grave and tombstone is negotiable, no offers have been made yet.

 
 

Fake death in huge explosion plot is unwittingly foiled

Ananova - 20th November 2002 A passing newspaper deliveryman unwittingly foiled a petrol station employee's attempt to fake his own death by blowing the petrol pumps up, a Canadian court has heard.  An arson investigator in Surry, British Columbia says the explosion would have destroyed an entire city block.  Patrick Keber, 33, who was working at the gas station at the time of the fire, has been sentenced to two years in jail after being convicted of arson and theft.

During the trial, the court was told that Keber intended to blow up the gas station fake his death through the explosion.  Balbir Dhaliwal was driving past the station about 3:30am when he saw a small fire at the station.  He said he called 911, then used one of the water hoses by the station's pumps to extinguish the blaze.  Canoe news reports what Mr Dhaliwal didn't know was that he had interrupted a plan to blow the station up by igniting its underground storage tanks.

 
 

Murder accused 'admitted bigamy'

BBC News - 3rd December 2002 A husband accused of murdering his wife and children in Devon had been through a bigamous marriage with her and had previously faked his own suicide, a court has heard.  Anthony John Allen made a statement to police in May 1976, saying he had met his wife Patricia in 1967 about the same time he faked his own death.  Mr Allen, of Poole, Dorset, also said in the statement he had been through a bigamous marriage with Patricia before marrying her in a legal ceremony in 1972.  The 68-year-old denies murdering his wife and their children, Jonathan, seven, and Victoria, five, who all disappeared in Salcombe in May 1975.  Mr Allen's past emerged at Exeter Crown Court when statements he made to the police after the disappearance of his family were read to the court by the prosecution.  It was also revealed he had been imprisoned for 13 months in 1973 over a mail delivery business and told police his wife "did not want me from the time I came out".  In a witness statement made to the police in October 1975, Allen said when he moved to Salcombe earlier that year as restaurant manager of the Marine Hotel, his marriage was "under strain".

He said they were trying to make a new start, but were "drifting apart".  The statement added in May 1975 he and Patricia had an argument after going to a carnival with the children and that day or the next, he found her packing her bags and leaving in her Volkswagen car.  Mr Allen said in the statement she reappeared the next day, saying she could not live without the children, and that she was considering emigrating.  The children were then woken up, clothes and toys were packed, and they were told they were going on a "little holiday".  Mr Allen said he signed a piece of paper, written by his wife, agreeing to hand the children into her custody and she could take them anywhere she liked.  The court heard he told the police he never saw or heard from them again after she drove off in her Volkswagen car.  She had said she would leave it at Totnes railway station, but it was not there when he went later to pick it up, and he was told four or five weeks later it was in a Salcombe car park.  The trial continues.

 
 

Man who faked death pleads guilty to fraud

Canada.com - 4th December 2002 A Quebec man who faked his own drowning to collect about $250,000 in life insurance pleaded guilty to attempted fraud.  Florent Terrassin, 40, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and mischief charges when he appeared in court on Tuesday.  Terrassin, a baker in nearby Les Coteaux, about 30 kilometres southwest of Montreal, entered the pleas because he wanted a quick end to the case. His wife, Josette Faure Terrassin, made a similar move after her arrest in November.  Florent Terrassin was found alive in his bed by police several weeks after being reported missing while on a fishing trip in August.  Police said he had been hiding out in the United States while his wife allegedly tried to cash in two insurance policies worth almost $300,000.

Terrassin's wife called police on Aug. 20 to report that her husband was lost in the St. Lawrence River.  His wallet, a shoe and fishing gear were found in the water, leading rescuers to believe he had drowned, said police.  The RCMP, Quebec provincial police and local rescue crews combed the river for two days before calling off the search.  Investigators became suspicious when they received a call from the couple's insurance company.  Police also received a call from a Canada Customs agent who claimed she had seen the man cross into Canada from the United States a few weeks after his disappearance.  Further inquiries revealed the couple's young son told schoolmates he had spoken to his father, said police.

 
 

Accused Killer Faked Own Death

This Is Cornwall - 6th December 2002 The man accused of murdering his young family 27 years ago in the Westcountry had already been in prison and "done a Reggie Perrin", a court heard yesterday.  Exeter Crown Court was told that Anthony John Angel had left a pile of clothes near Beachy Head in 1967 - before swimming out to sea in a fake suicide.  He then resurfaced down the coast and began his life as Anthony John Allen - meeting Patricia Walker in December 1967 and marrying her in 1972.  Allen is accused of murdering Patricia, 39, and their children Jonathan, seven, and Victoria, five, between May 25 and 30, 1975. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.  Allen staged the fake suicide bid at Beachy Head in 1967 as he was splitting from his first wife Monica Lightfoot around that time.  Det Sgt Richard Bailey, of Devon and Cornwall Police, told Mark Evans QC, prosecuting, that Allen had faked his own suicide in 1967. He told the court that Allen swam into the sea, leaving a pile of clothes, and emerged "some way up the coast" before disappearing and becoming John Allen.  But defence counsel John Aspinall QC, cross-examining Det Sgt Bailey, said this was already known to the police before the investigation into Patricia's disappearance.  He said: "You knew full well that he had done a Reggie Perrin and changed his name from Angel to Allen."  Mr Aspinall was referring to the 1970s TV sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter, in which the central character fakes suicide by planting clothes on the beach.  Allen met Patricia after that incident in December 1967, and in 1968 he appeared in court for bigamy, as he was still married to Monica.  He was also charged with one offence of larceny and one of false pretences, but asked for a further 116 offences to be taken into account. He received a suspended sentence of two years in jail, which carried for three years.

Then, three years later, he was fined £150 and £17 costs for theft involving a tea machine, in June 1971. And the following year, at Manchester Crown Court, Allen was jailed for three years for four offences of criminal damage and four of theft, involving the burning of private mail during the postal strike.  He served 12 months of that sentence in jail.  The court heard that at the time Patricia told friends and relatives that Allen was in hospital with TB of the kidney during that prison term, but later people subsequently found out he had been in jail.  Since Patricia disappeared in 1975, Allen has been in court twice. In May 1990 at Isleworth Crown Court, he was jailed for three years for five theft offences arising from a conveyancing business. And in May 2000, he was given six months imprisonment suspended for two years for 13 theft offences and one of obtaining a pecuniary advantage.  Mr Aspinall asked Det Sgt Bailey: "But there is nothing to suggest violence or that he has been a violent man?"  Det Sgt Bailey replied: "Not that I am aware of."  Allen legally married Patricia in 1972, and changed his surname from Angel to Allen officially by deed poll in 1976, the jury was told.  The court earlier heard evidence from Ross McOmish, a passport officer from Newport, Wales.  Mr McOmish was called into the 2001 investigation by Devon and Cornwall Police to search the records of the Passport Office, which stretch back to 1909.  He was instructed to look for records for Patricia under her maiden name Blacker, her first married name Walker and also as Patricia Allen.  He said: "She was issued with a passport in the mid-1950s as Pat Blacker, and then reapplied for another passport as Pat Walker in 1966."  Mr Evans asked when that passport would have expired, to which Mr McOmish replied: "In 1971, and there is no record of a renewal after that date."  The trial was adjourned until Monday.

 
 

Accused Allen Faked Suicide

Western Morning News - 6th December 2002 The chequered criminal career and the "Reggie Perrin" disappearing act of the man alleged to have murdered his wife and children 27 years ago was laid before a jury yesterday.  Exeter Crown Court heard that 68-year-old self confessed womaniser John Allen had convictions for bigamy, deception, fraud, criminal damage and theft from his employers.  In 1972 he was jailed for three years at Manchester Crown Court for stealing mail and burning it during a postal strike.  As long ago as 1968 Allen was given a two-year prison sentence suspended for three years after admitting larceny and asking for 116 other offences to be considered.  And as recently as May 2000 Allen had been convicted of 13 offences of theft from his employer and one of deception.  His counsel, John Aspinall, QC, also conceded that Allen had done "a Reggie Perrin" at Beachy Head.  He had left a pile of clothes on the beach in 1967 faking his own suicide and had emerged to change his name from Angel to Allen.  He later officially changed names by deed poll.  Earlier the court heard that his wife Patricia Allen did not have a valid passport at the time she vanished from Salcombe in 1975-and neither did her children.  Allen, now of Poole in Dorset, has denied murdering Mrs Allen and their two children, Jonathan, seven, and Victoria, five.  A special investigator from the passport office in Newport said he had carried out searches in the name of Patricia Allen and she did not have a passport at that time.  Ross McCoysh said he had also searched under the names of Blacker, Walker (Patricia's first married name), Angel and Simone and they revealed nothing either.

He told the jury that he had carried out similar checks in all those names in relation to Victoria and Jonathan and had also drawn a blank.  When he was cross examined by Mr Aspinall he agreed that it was relatively easy to obtain a false passport. All that was needed was a copy of a birth certificate, a photograph and a signature of someone to confirm the photograph was a good likeness of the person applying for the passport. He said random checks were now carried out but he had no knowledge of the procedures in force in 1975.  Another witness, Margaret Scott, said in a statement read to the court that she remembered Mrs Allen having a relationship with an American airman, John Simone, and that she had gone to the United States with him with the idea of them setting up home together. But when she got there she had found out that he was married and the relationship had ended in failure.  Mrs Scott said she understood that Mrs Allen had had her passport confiscated and she was forced to leave the country and leave some of her clothing behind.  A former waiter at The Marine Hotel in Salcombe, Kenneth Hassell, said he got to know John Allen quite well and he remembered an occasion when he turned up at the hotel looking less that his usual confident self.  Mr Hassell said he looked dishevelled and he had scratches on his neck and the bottom of his chin. There were three marks there and he also had a bandage on his left wrist.  Allen told him that he had had an accident in the garden.  Cross examined by Mr Aspinall, the witness said he had not spoken to the police in 1975 but first made a statement about two months ago.  He agreed that at the time of the disappearances there was a lot of gossip in the hotel about how Allen might have murdered his wife and children.  He said he was involved in that but had never spoken before about the scratches and bandages.  The trial was adjourned until Monday.

 

Brazilian turns up alive and well a year after his 'burial'

Ananova - 8th January 2003 A Brazilian man who was believed to have died and been buried a year ago startled relatives by turning up alive.  The family of Sebastiao Fidelis, 43, thought he had been buried in the town of Campo do Meio.  Mr Fidelis had been missing for two months in November 2001 when his wife recognised a dead body as being him, Jornal da Tarde newspaper reports.

But a year later he was found wandering in the town's streets by a family friend and taken home. He had lost his memory and said he had been walking for months trying to find his family.  Mr Fidelis will now have to fight in court to have his death certificate annulled.  The grave where his family thought they had buried him has already been knocked down.

 

Funeral Rehearsal No-Show

ImpactLab.com - 19th March 2007 Amir Vehabovic, 45 of Bosnia, faked his own death just to see how many people would attend his funeral.  Then he sent out irate "thank you" cards! A Bosnian man has written to all his friends to complain after only his elderly mum turned up for his funeral. Amir Vehabovic, 45, faked his own death just to see how many people would attend.

He then watched from the bushes as only his elderly mum turned up for the burial in the north Bosnian town of Gradiska. In the letter to the 45 people he invited to the burial he said: "I paid a lot of money to get a fake death certificate and bribe undertakers to deliver an empty coffin. "I really thought a lot more of you, my so-called friends, would turn up to pay their last respects. It just goes to show who you can really count on."

 

Gambling 'Reggie Perrin' Jailed

BBC News - 30th January 2008 A gambler has been sent to jail for stealing a dead friend's identity in a bid to escape his £50,000 poker debts. Norman Kay, 63, of Courtenay Terrace, Starcross, Devon, had planned to disappear and secretly meet up with his wife under his new name.  Kay had earlier pleaded guilty to improperly obtaining a passport, making false representations and attempted deception at Exeter Crown Court. Judge Jeremy Griggs sentenced Kay to nine months in prison.  Kay was in debt after losing in high-stakes poker games, and decided to resurrect himself as Christopher Francis, a friend who was born the day before him and had died in 1974, prosecutor Emily Pitts told the previous hearing. He obtained a passport, a birth certificate and a National Health Service medical card in the name of Mr Francis, together with his National Insurance number - with the aim of obtaining money from the Benefits Agency.

The court was told Kay's plan was to do a "Reggie Perrin", move abroad and live off benefits under a different name.  But benefits officials and police caught up with him when they realised he was living a double life in Sheffield and Devon.  Defence counsel Piers Norsworthy said Kay was in poor health, suffered from depression and turned to poker on a large scale, which landed him in debt.  "He felt useless as Norman Kay and in sheer desperation decided that Kay would cease to exist and Christopher Francis would be reborn," Mr Norsworthy said.  Sentencing Kay, the judge told him: "You were trying to escape from your £50,000 gambling debts and were using the identity of a dead friend who had been known to you for many years.  "The authorities are clear this type of activity must be eradicated. If and when people are found out they will receive immediate prison sentences."

 

How Harry Gordon made the Darwins look like amateurs

Daily Mirror - 26th July 2008 Harry Gordon could have written the manual for John and Anne Darwin ... he'd been dead for five years before the cops caught up with him. The Aussie businessman rowed out to sea, faked his death and went on the run for years before being caught and jailed. And the wife who'd gone along with his life of lies was jailed with him. Along the way, he bumped into a shocked brother who believed he was dead - and married another woman bigamously. Harry's tale makes John and Anne Darwin's escapades with canoes and Panama look like child's play. Like John Darwin, Harry spent five years playing dead, at one time bizarrely taking a job in a crisp factory in Wigan, Lancs. Only recently released from prison, he has a grim message for the Darwins who were each jailed for six years on Wednesday. "No matter how bad life may seem right now, it will only get worse," he says. And Harry should know. Like John, he faked his own death by using a boat accident as cover. Using false ID, Harry ran away to live a lie leaving his brothers and sisters to come to terms with their grief. And like the Darwins, the law eventually caught up with him - in 2005 he was jailed for the dramatic deception. His ex wife Sheila was sentenced to home detention for her part in the plan. Now that he's served a year of his 18- month sentence, he's had to face the relatives he deceived and exclusively tells the Mirror how he's rebuilding his life and relationships after coming back from the dead. Harry, 58, says: "When I first heard the Darwins' story, I shuddered because the similarities with mine were astonishing. "I know what hell they'll face in jail. But worse, I know that life gets worse once you've served your sentence. The shame of being a public disgrace never leaves you." While an obsession with money lay behind the Darwins' callous decision to convince their two sons that John had drowned in the North Sea near their home in Seaton Carew, Harry's disappearance was driven by fear. Once a millionaire businessman, he claims he was being threatened by gangsters trying to extort money and felt forced to take drastic steps to escape. In June 2000, Harry left his wallet, mobile phone and empty bottles of champagne in his speed boat which lay adrift near his home on the Karuah estuary in New South Wales, Australia. He rowed across choppy waters into the night in a flimsy rubber dinghy, and under a cloak of darkness made it back to shore where a van he'd stocked with clothes and £42,000 in cash lay hidden in the bush. Sheila, his wife of 25 years, knew of his plan and agreed not to tell authorities, as did his daughter. While local police scratched their heads in puzzlement at how a man could simply disappear off the face of the earth, Harry lay low in his van and a Sydney seaside hotel. Using a fake passport, he eventually fled to Spain and then Wigan in Lancashire where he worked in a crisp warehouse. But Harry soon tired of wet Wigan and eventually settled in New Zealand where he sold garages and project homes. Despite the lack of body, a coroner eventually declared John dead in June 2001 and a life insurance claim for £1.75 million was submitted. This time, unlike the Darwins', the insurance company did not pay out, and his wife Sheila wisely didn't push it.

"That was the real deception. If I'd left a note and said I'd disappeared to start a new life, it wouldn't have been so bad. But the big mistake was pretending I'd died. That's when I crossed into a criminal state." Harry's new name, blue contact lenses and buckets of nerve meant his scam worked perfectly for years. He fell in love with Auckland social worker Kristine Newsome, who agreed to marry him and his carefully constructed new life seemed better than he ever imagined - until an incredibly coincidental meeting on a New Zealand mountainside in May 2005 blew his cover. Harry says: "I'd met and fallen in love with Kristine and we were enjoying a stroll hand-in-hand. "Then incredibly we passed my brother Michael who was walking the other way. Thinking he'd seen a ghost, he did a double take, walked back and said, 'Is it really you?' I said, 'Of course it is. But look, it's inconvenient to talk right now. I'll call you in a few days,' and walked on. "I told Kristine he was just an old friend, and later told her lies that I was on a witness protection scheme. I desperately didn't want to lose her." In fact Harry had bigamously married Kristine, but by now his brother had gone back to Sydney where he confronted Sheila, Harry's legitimate wife, and urged her to go to the police. Harry's cover was blown. "It was such an ordeal having to face my new wife and tell her who I really was. Everything came crashing down." Harry pleaded guilty to false representation and conspiracy to defraud the insurance company in November 2005. Sheila received a five-month home detention sentence for being in on the act, but their daughter - who always believed his witness protection story - escaped jail. "Prison was hell for me, and will be for the Darwins. Prisoners will already know what they've done and will threaten them for money. They won't get any respect for their crime, which makes them look weak. And they could even be beaten by other inmates, just as I was. "And it's horrendous to be surrounded by so many amoral people. You start to cherish your family relationships even more, but John and Anne have already lost theirs. Their sentence is far bigger than mine, and I hate to say this, but it doesn't get any easier on the outside, once you've served your sentence. "Your reputation has been forever shredded and you're permanently ashamed. So they have no cause to be optimistic." Did his own family forgive him? "My brother, two sisters and I have a cordial relationship, but I'm the youngest by far and we were never all that close. "My first wife Sheila has moved on and has a new life with someone else. Good for her. My daughter forgave me and has given me a grandson. And I married Kristine, for real this time, after she put me on a year's probation to see if I had any more hidden secrets. Friends helped me get back into business when I got out of jail, although of course customers can be circumspect about dealing with me when they hear my story. And I'm not as wealthy as I was - but I'm comfortable. More than that, I'm happy, lucky and very grateful." There is talk of making Harry's life into a movie, but for now he is working hard to pick up the pieces of the life people believed ended seven years ago. Harry says: "I've spent most of my life being very conventional, and that's what helped medisappear bcause when you're a middlea gedbalding man you become invisible. "I'm at an age when people start popping off anyway. "But now I will always be defined for that one action. I'll always be known as the man who faked his own death. "Of course I regret doing it, it was utter stupidity. But I'm lucky that the people I love most forgave me, and I had lots of loyal friends and a loving family who stood by me. "I'm not sure the Darwins will be so lucky."

 

Jail For Suicide Faker Accused Of Sex Attack

Mail On Sunday - 20th September 2008 By Chris Brooke Last updated at 3:02 AM on 20th September 2008 Mark Bailey's rucksack left near a cliff top after his faked suicide attempt A man who carried out a Reggie  Perrin-style fake suicide to start a new life has been jailed for 12 months. Mark Bailey, 44, who was under investigation by police for an alleged sex assault, left behind a rucksack containing four hand-written notes to family members and police at a cliff top. Unlike the BBC sitcom, in which Leonard Rossiter’s Perrin character lasted for three seasons in the 1970s, Bailey’s deception was quickly exposed and he was arrested within 24 hours. A huge air and sea search was launched after he rang emergency services pretending to be a passer-by who had found the rucksack. He told them he feared that someone had leapt 200ft into the North Sea near Bridlington, East Yorkshire. Suspicions were aroused when police traced the mobile used to make the 999 call and discovered it was registered to Bailey himself.   He was arrested 30 miles away on a train at Goole railway station. He gave police his new name, Shane Dowling, but officers weren’t fooled. Unemployed Bailey, whose family life was said to be in turmoil, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice at Hull Crown Court. Passing sentence, Judge Simon Jack said the attempt to fake his death was ‘fairly short-lived’ and his motive was ‘to get away from it all’. But the crime was a serious matter warranting a lengthy jail term, he added. The court heard Bailey, from Rotherham, was pretending to go on a coastal walking holiday when he put his plan into action on June 5 this year.

He left a rucksack with clothes, toiletries and boots near a cliff edge and dialled 999 to alert the authorities to his apparent death. Bailey put on a camouflage jacket and stayed around to ensure the report was taken seriously. Just like Reggie: Leonard Rossiter played Reggie Perrin, who faked his own death in the 1970s sitcom  He was even spoken to by police who arrived to investigate the missing person and gave his name as Shane Dowling. Officers found suicide notes in envelopes to his partner, five-year-old daughter, parents and police. The note to his daughter said: ‘Daddy had gone to Jesus and Mary singing to all the children.’ Bailey left an empty bottle of spirits and a note to his elderly parents saying: ‘Forgive me for what I have done. I have disappeared and I’m ashamed of it. I’m sorry, I have got to do what is best. My life is over.’ Police and the Coastguard searched the shore, helped by RNLI volunteers, but routine police inquiries revealed Bailey was on bail under suspicion of a serious criminal offence. Paul Genney, defending, told the court: ‘He wanted to get away from everything. Bearing in mind he was faking his own suicide, there was some planning but he used his own mobile telephone.  'It was not the most brilliant piece of sophistication. ‘He was under pressure and he was not up to it. He is not an unintelligent man. ‘He is hoping to put his time in prison to good use and take what courses he can. In the long term he aims to get back to college and get some further qualifications.’

 

Missing man arrested in Spain on suspicion of faking his own death

The Guardian - 13th August 2009 Police say Jenaro Jiménez Hernández, who disappeared while fishing more than a year ago, was hiding in South America Tom Worden in Barcelona The only trace police divers found of businessman Jenaro Jiménez Hernández was a single size 11 flipper. For more than a year, his family were convinced he had died in an accident while spearfishing off Spain's Atlantic coast. But rumours in the Andalucian city of Cádiz persisted that Jiménez had faked his own death and fled abroad to escape heavy debts. Early yesterday morning, 16 months after he disappeared, the gossip was proved correct: Jiménez, 42, was arrested in Madrid on suspicion of fraud after stepping off a plane from São Paulo, Brazil. Much to the shock of his wife, Anabel, who was eight months pregnant when her husband went missing, police believe he had been hiding in Paraguay all the time. Jiménez was last seen leaving his home at 7am on Sunday 13 April last year to go fishing off Los Alemanes beach, near Tarifa, on the Costa de la Luz. When he failed to return that afternoon, his wife called the civil guard who found his BMW car abandoned by the coast. His wallet with ID was inside the vehicle, but his scuba suit and fishing gear were missing. A four-day search by land, sea and helicopter failed to find any sign of the businessman, apart from the flipper, discovered by a police diver. Moroccan authorities were contacted in case a body washed up on their shores.

His disappearance left the couple's young son fatherless, and a month later Anabel gave birth to a baby daughter. But in a case echoing that of John Darwin, the British canoeist who had faked his own death, detectives were not entirely convinced there had been an accident.   Several people reported that Jiménez had disappeared owing them large sums of money, reportedly up to ¤120,000 (£103,000) and a number of complaints were filed against him at a local court. His businesses, including two construction companies, were said to be struggling. Although the idea he was dead was never officially rejected, an international arrest warrant was issued. A month ago Jiménez contacted a close friend in Spain to say he planned to return home and hand himself in. Police were waiting for him when he arrived, looking tired, at Madrid's Barajas airport. His wife has said she never wants to see him again, according to the newspaper ABC. Detectives believe Jiménez never went fishing, but instead cycled 50 miles from Tarifa to Gibraltar, then flew to South America on a false passport, taking a large sum of cash with him. A year after the disappearance his father, also called Jenaro, gave an interview denying his son had faked his own death, dismissing the continuing rumours as "sour grapes". He told the Diario de Cádiz newspaper: "If one day we find out he is in Ecuador, we will say he is a bad son, and he will have to give explanations to his wife and to us, his family. But to nobody else." The courts, however, may disagree.A police spokesman said Jiménez spent Wednesday night in a cell before appearing before a magistrate today on suspicion of fraud, unlawful appropriation and possessing false documents.

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